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ARTS AND CULTURE

My phone addiction nightmare

  • 21 May 2014

Mobile phones. What a trap they are. I get all wrapped up in conversation until the electronic voice almost politely tells me to shut up and to put more money on my prepaid.

Sick of running out and guzzling up money I turned to what looked like a great affordable new phone plan. Not only did I get a snazzy phone with all the latest features, but also what looked like unlimited access to everyone and everything I knew. $550 worth of calls on a $69 a month plan seemed like a total dream. I could keep myself hanging on the phone talking to my boyfriend and family all day and night long at my own convenience.

Instead I woke up screaming over the $700 bill I incurred in just two weeks. What have I done? I felt weak. My future now felt bleak. There was simply no way I could pay it off.

I charged to the phone dealer and complained that I had been taken for a ride. I got very little sympathy. He told me that the service provider is a business, then gave me some very tough options to choose from, which all required vast amounts of money to exit or change plans. I knew I was going to have to toss aside the phone that almost felt like an appendage to me. I couldn't imagine how I'd get through life without it.

I had loved my phone to the point where I couldn't hold back even when I was put on hold. I kept hanging on, listening to the piano or boring elevator music or advertising or large beeps that pierced my eardrums, totally unaware that this was coming at a huge price.

In the end I had no choice but to give it up. For a while I did not have a phone. I don't know how I coped. It had been like an expensive designer drug. It kept me in touch and highly animated. How I loved ringing up everyone from banks to psychics to my wonderful parents, boyfriend and friends. How much fun I had! I felt a sense of empowerment and freedom that I never felt before.

I know now that I abused the hell out of my phone. It was like a rag doll which I'd drag around everywhere. It came at a huge price that kept inflating like a huge balloon until it finally burst and the